Twitter launches new tool to combat election-linked misinformation

Twitter announced Wednesday it is launching a new tool to help users report any practice of election-related misinformation on its platform.

The US social media company said it is updating a feature within the product to combat "malicious automation and other forms of platform manipulation on the service."

It is adding an option in the drop-down menu to let users describe how a specific tweet is misleading voters, such as misinformation about how to register to vote, or about the officially announced date or time of an election.

The new tool will be rolled out for the current elections in India, which begins on April 25, and the voting of European Parliament later this month, Twitter said.

Like other tech companies such as Google and Facebook, Twitter has been under pressure of the European Commission to tighten control of fake content on the platform.

The company said it is planning to expand the strengthened approach to other elections globally throughout the rest of the year.

It stopped short of saying when the new measure will be applied to US elections in 2020.

Twitter announced the new tool one day after US President Donald Trump met its top executives including CEO Jack Dorsey in the White House for what he called "an open dialogue" on Tuesday.

"Great meeting this afternoon at the @WhiteHouse with @Jack from @Twitter. Lots of subjects discussed regarding their platform, and the world of social media in general. Look forward to keeping an open dialogue!" Trump tweeted.

A Twitter spokesperson said the discussion touched upon Twitter's commitment to protecting the health of the public conversation ahead of the 2020 US elections.